FORMULATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF SELF- NANOEMULSIFYING DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR WATER INSOLUBLE DRUG USING STATISTICAL DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT

The objective of the work was to formulate a self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) of zaltoprofen and to study the impact and interaction of various formulation variables on the formulation by the design of the experiment. A 13-run 3-factors, 3-levels box behnken design (BBD) was used for optimization with 1 replicates at the center point. The concentration of phosal 53 MCT, tween 80, and PEG 400 as oil, surfactant, and co-surfactant, respectively, were used as independent variables. Self emulsification time, % transmittance, and relative turbidity were chosen as responses for the study. Results obtained show the impact of independent variables on the response under study. The optimal concentrations of variables were found to be 27.71% (w/w) oil, 46.1% (w/w) surfactant and 19.28% (w/w) co-surfactant. The in vitro dissolution study showed a marked increase in dissolution rate than zaltoprofen powder. The box Behnken design was successfully used in the optimization of zaltoprofen SNEDDS and to study the impact of components on the response under study in a simplified and time-effective manner.